High School is a Carnival
by Imaniillusion
Summary: Inspired by the season ten promo music video! At the Degrassi carnival, Eli attempts to persuade Clare to go on a roller coaster with him, despite her fear. Tons of Eli/Clare flirtage. Oneshot.


**Ello mates!(: Quick introduction: This is my first _ever _Degrassi fanfiction, and the cure to my three month old writer's block. And I owe it all to Eli and Clare. I know it's still pretty new, but I am in love with the two of them, and have wanted to write about them for about a week now, but I didn't know what to write. And after the season ten promo commercial (baby there's a shark in the waaater) commercial came on for the billionth time, I finally got my inspiration. A carnival!**

**PS: If this story seems a little OOC for Clare, it's because I decided to embrace her more playful side that comes out when she's around Eli, rather than her other "smart" personality. Also, please ignore any possible typos! When I downloaded the document, it messed everything up and cut some words out. I fixed it and proofread it five times, but there might still be some whacked out wording down there. Sorry!**

**Aaand, here we go. **

**Review, porfavor!**

* * *

"So, let me get this straight. Vampires, you embrace, but you're shiver in terror at the mere mention of an amusement park rides that goes up and down and makes little children go 'wee'?" Eli laughed.

"I never shivered." I spat defensively.

He threw his hands up, as if I was going to jump up and tear his head off. "Heel, Edwards."

I stuck my tongue out at him, practically able to read his mind to predict what he was going to say.

_Mature, Clare._

Apparently, I'm no Edward Cullen. "Careful, or one day I'm going to bite it off." he warned in a low voice. I sighed, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks. Of course. Only Eli could make something so…cannibalistic, sound sexy.

"Clare? Hello?" I faintly heard him call as he waved his hand in front of my face. His minty breath forced me to snap back to reality. "If you're done fantasizing about me sucking your blood…can we go on that Superman knock-off now? Seriously, it doesn't even go that fast." He scanned my face, which was full of doubt, and released his trademark sideways smirk.

"Clare, it's okay to be scared of roller coasters. You'll find plenty of other six year olds who share the same fear."

I scoffed. "For the last time, Elijah, I am not scared."

"Yes, you are." he insisted.

I walked up closely to him in a failed attempt at being intimidating. I quickly noticed our lack of distance between each other. We were practically nose to nose. "I am not scared." I repeated.

"I think you are."

"But I'm not."

"Then why won't you go on Adventure Cyclone with me?" he inquired. My eyes darted across the school parking lot that endured such a transformation, Cinderella would be jealous. Since the last carnival at Degrassi went so well, Mistor, I mean, _Principal _Simpson, decided to re-create it. Only, this time, it was larger, open to the public, and was full of many "fun" rides, like roller coasters.

I hate roller coasters.

I guess that's a little unfair, seeing as I've never been on one, but I've been on enough other fast rides to know that I strongly detest roller coasters.

No. I take that back. I have been on a roller coaster before, three years ago. Darcy made me. But I was let off after the first few seconds because I was shaking and screaming so much. Not an experience I'm looking forward to reliving.

Eli's eyes were on me. I desperately searched around the colorful parking lot for a quick excuse.

My eyes landed on Riley trying to show off on the Test Your Strength game, and Drew showing him up. Next, my sight fell on the next booth over, featuring Dave preparing to go up to Alli's kissing booth -another sneaky excuse to make out with Drew, and a few others. But yet again, Drew showed another guy up, and kissed Alli first. And boy, it was a long kiss. Poor Dave. However, it was interrupted when a few droplets of rain on the roof of her booth hitting her scrunched up nose.

That was it!

"I think it rained today." I stated, walking in the opposite direction, towards something safer: The Merry Go Round. He kept up my quick pace, practically floating. Eli looked down at me with a quizzical expression. I think he was even starting to chuckle at me.

Ugh, all I wanted to do was wipe that superior grin right off his smug face.

"So?"

I sighed dramatically, blowing my bangs off my face. "So, these rides were just built over the weekend. Obviously they're not as sturdy as professional amusement park rides. And I don't know if you learned this yet, but, rain plus metal equals rust." I explained.

"But not all the time." Eli countered.

I frowned at him. Why couldn't he just drop it?

Oh, right. Because he's Eli.

"Whatever. Point is, I don't wanna take the chance. How about instead, you go use all of that macho energy to go win me a teddy bear or something?"

Surprise, surprise. He didn't go for it.

Eli grabbed my wrist, and I felt my stomach scream at the contact. "Please, Clare? I don't want to ride by myself. It's no fun that way." he pouted. I rolled my eyes, but felt myself grin. "Unless you really are scared…" he said, sounding sympathetic. But I knew that he wasn't. He was just mocking me. It was a challenge.

"Stop that! I am not scared, okay?" I plastered a faux-frightened expression on his face. I rolled my eyes and retracted.

"Okay, so I am. You happy now?" I said, starting to walk away for the second time, hopefully successfully.

Or not.

Eli jumped in front of me in lightning speed and blocked my way out.

"Eli, move."

He grabbed my hands and held me in place, in the same position we were in the first time we hung out, but roles were reversed. Once again, I could feel his chilly breath hit my cheek. "Clare, I don't know how many times I have to tell you this: Life is all about taking risks and facing your fears. Plus, they did a maintenance check on this thing yesterday. Sav told me." he said in a serious tone, which was a definite contrast from the teasing one he's been using on me all evening. Maybe he ran out. "You're going to be fine, I'm going to be right with you, and you're going on Adventure Whatever with me."

His words hypnotized me. Or was it his emerald eyes? Yep, it was definitely the eyes. I didn't know what I was focusing on more: the gold sparks in his otherwise green eyes, or the fact that his lips were less than a centimeter away from mine. I wondered if he would kiss me. I wondered if I would like then he freaking walked away, just like that, leaving me in a stupor. It wasn't until he was a few yards away when I realized how stupid I must look, just standing there, smiling at nothing. I probably looked like I had gas or something.

"Come on, Clare! If you hurry up, I'll even let you hold my hand while we're going down." Eli called over his shoulder, like he had no idea what he did to me.

He's so frustrating.

Oh, what the heck.

I bolted. "Race ya," I yelled to Eli as I ran past him. I looked back just in time to see him grin and take off as well.

I felt like I was flying, which is another thing that makes me love being around Eli. As cliché as it was, he didn't make me feel as confined as I usually did. He made me feel...free.

We finally reached the line, out of breath. Well, I was. He seemed fine."How did you beat me?" I whined. "I started before you!"

"It's not my fault I've had experience with running from things." he shrugged.

Ugh. There he goes being furtive and mysterious again. And of course, he changes the subject before I can ask what he meant. "We're up." he nudged me. Crap, the line cleared already.

"You ready for this?" he asked. I nodded slightly.

"You better be, since I had to spend five hours dragging you here." he noticed someone behind us staring at the two of us. "First timer," he explained in a pitying voice. I slapped his shoulder, but it seemed to hurt me more than it hurt him. I need to work out more.

Somehow, I had gotten on the ride, silently freaking out all the way up. Even though I wasn't expressing my worries with words, Eli could see my fear glued onto my face. Hey, at least I wasn't spazzing yet. "Chill, okay? You'll be fine." he promised, wrapping his arm around me and squeezing me in a reassuring hug. "Thanks." I said, actually believing him for some strange reason.

A few seconds passed. We were getting closer and closer to the top, and I was prepared to jump out.

"Hey, so you know how I said they did a maintenance check on these rides?"

"Yeah?" I said, looking at him.

"I lied."

My mouth dropped open and I prepared to hit him, but I didn't even have time to react. My stomach dropped. We were on our way down. Eli kept his hand holding promise, which gave me some comfort, but I didn't need much. I quickly adjusted to the weightless feeling the ride was giving me, and I actually liked not having any control over what was going the second drop, I threw his hand on his lap and threw my hands in the air. I could feel Eli smiling at me, but I really wasn't thinking about anything except for enjoying the just like that, it was soon as I hopped out of the car, I squealed like I did when I was five.

"So, you liked the ride?" Eli asked innocently, like he didn't already know the answer.

I laughed. "Are you kidding? It was amazing!"

"Did I not tell you you'd like it?"

I ignored his told-you-so, and actually agreed with him. "Thanks for forcing me on, Eli. I mean it. It was great. I definitely wouldn't have done it without you." and without even realizing what I was doing, I kissed him. It was just a small peck, a sweet first kiss that didn't seem to last even a full second, but our lips definitely made contact. And I don't know about him, but it made my insides burst, even more than Adventure Cyclone did. Eli touched his lips. I could feel his ego exploding.

"Come on," I started, before Eli could question me or the situation could turn awkward. "I wanna go on the ferris wheel and see if there are any other cool rides here."

"Uh, I'd rather not." he said. "I mean, we can just ask someone what other rides are here…or walk around...or go find Adam; I'm pretty sure he's near the house of mirrors…or we could just ditch."

I scoffed, putting my hands on my hips. "Elijah Goldsworthy, do not tell me you're afraid of the ferris wheel."

"Psh," he threw his hands up. "I am most definitely not."

"Then why won't you go on with me?" I challenged.

"Well, you see…" he started, looking distant for a second.

"Ithinkitrainedtoday." he rushed, dashing off. I chased after him, even faster than I was running earlier. He had a classic _Oh, Crap_, Eli expression on his face.

"Elijah Goldsworthy, you get back here right now, or I'll murder you with the fake knives from Holly J's booth!" I threatened.

His tongue darted out at me, accompanied by a na-na-na-na-na dance.

Oh, it is so on.


End file.
